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This is not how rent control works in any city in the US that I know of. Everywhere I know of rent control only applies to significantly older buildings. Which

This is not how rent control works in any city in the US that I know of. Everywhere I know of rent control only applies to significantly older buildings. Which means that new buildings can charge much higher prices, which means that rent control actually encourages new buildings. The only time some type of rent control applies for new buildings is when they are specifically built as "affordable housing". This usually happens when a developer is required to build affordable housing to pay back for some favor he/she received from the city.

wernercd 8y ago
> This is not how rent control works That's not how it works in theory... That's how it works in reality. That's the problem with most "progressive" theories like rent control... the theory doesn't match reality.
AnthonyMouse 8y ago
> Everywhere I know of rent control only applies to significantly older buildings. Which means that new buildings can charge much higher prices, which means that rent control actually encourages new buildings. New buildings are what become older buildings. If that causes them to become less valuable, they become less valuable immediately because the future loss gets priced in, making them less valuable to construct. And older buildings also become newer buildings. In most places with a housing shortage there is already a structure on any given piece of appropriately zoned land. To get more housing, you have to knock something down and replace it with something bigger, or subdivide an existing building with fewer, larger apartments into one with more, smaller ones etc. That can't happen if the building is full of existing rent controlled tenants who can't be removed (and have strong incentives to never leave).
- hristov 8y ago
  In all the major cities I know of (and this includes san francisco and los angeles), if there is rent control it is set for buildings older than a fixed date (usually somewhere about 1979). So no, newer buildings will not become covered by rent control unless the laws are drastically changed. Furthermore, in California the Ellis act allows landlords to mass evict rent controlled tenants in order to demolish a building for new construction, so your second point is not valid either.
  - AnthonyMouse 8y ago
    > Furthermore, in California the Ellis act allows landlords to mass evict rent controlled tenants in order to demolish a building for new construction, so your second point is not valid either. That would still apparently prevent the building from being subdivided into smaller units or otherwise reconfigured/improved for higher density. And your point seems to be not that rent control isn't a problem but rather that some places are already phasing it out -- which is good, but presents no aid to the people who continue to propose expanding it or retaining it in the areas it isn't already on its way out.
conanbatt 8y ago
> Everywhere I know of rent control only applies to significantly older buildings. Which means that new buildings can charge much higher prices, which means that rent control actually encourages new buildings. How do you replace old buildings with new buildings in this process?

wernercd 8y ago

> This is not how rent control works That's not how it works in theory... That's how it works in reality. That's the problem with most "progressive" theories like rent control... the theory doesn't match reality.

AnthonyMouse 8y ago

> Everywhere I know of rent control only applies to significantly older buildings. Which means that new buildings can charge much higher prices, which means that rent control actually encourages new buildings. New buildings are what become older buildings. If that causes them to become less valuable, they become less valuable immediately because the future loss gets priced in, making them less valuable to construct. And older buildings also become newer buildings. In most places with a housing shortage there is already a structure on any given piece of appropriately zoned land. To get more housing, you have to knock something down and replace it with something bigger, or subdivide an existing building with fewer, larger apartments into one with more, smaller ones etc. That can't happen if the building is full of existing rent controlled tenants who can't be removed (and have strong incentives to never leave).

hristov 8y ago
In all the major cities I know of (and this includes san francisco and los angeles), if there is rent control it is set for buildings older than a fixed date (usually somewhere about 1979). So no, newer buildings will not become covered by rent control unless the laws are drastically changed. Furthermore, in California the Ellis act allows landlords to mass evict rent controlled tenants in order to demolish a building for new construction, so your second point is not valid either.
- AnthonyMouse 8y ago
  > Furthermore, in California the Ellis act allows landlords to mass evict rent controlled tenants in order to demolish a building for new construction, so your second point is not valid either. That would still apparently prevent the building from being subdivided into smaller units or otherwise reconfigured/improved for higher density. And your point seems to be not that rent control isn't a problem but rather that some places are already phasing it out -- which is good, but presents no aid to the people who continue to propose expanding it or retaining it in the areas it isn't already on its way out.

conanbatt 8y ago